Our World to Save
by gingersunlights
Summary: Clara Oswald tumbles through a fissure in the Universe, and wakes up in a most terrible place.
1. In a Pestulential Prison

Love me today, love me do, love me tomorrow, love her, too.

Sat I, tortured in a cell, wondered what it's like in hell, abandoned hope I could not see, here you're given parts of me. A cracking heart, though broken be, is reparable inside. Softly punching, pounding through, seeping red through sleeping children lie awake; and in the night, their souls to take.

Clara thought that she might never escape.

All those days, months travelling with the Doctor, and it had to end here. Only a month ago she had been so free. Nothing to bind her-no stone walls, no rattling of chains.

She had heard the prison's name whispered through iron bars- Azkaban.

An awful name, indeed, and for a repulsive place. A desolate place.

Clara found that she could not cry. Those terrible monsters had taken even that small respite from her. She found that she spent most of her days sat in the middle of the cold, stone floor, staring out through the cursed bars at the front of her cell, imagining what the skyline might look like if she could see past the ice-clouds. Clara could just barely imagine a slashing of bright orange in her minds eye, but then the image was gone. She couldn't hold on. It wasn't fair.

At night, Clara heard the screaming. There were wails echoing all about during the daytime, if one could call it that, but nothing so monstrous as the ones she could hear at night. Sometimes, the screams she heard were her own.

It wasn't the screeching of her madwoman neighbor that kept her up at night, or the knowledge that some of the inmates were children, no. It was the nightmares.

Whenever lady Clara tried to sleep, she saw the frightening faces of Cybermen and the not-faces of the mighty Dalek. Sleeping Clara could see nothing more than all the tragedies of her time with the Doctor, and so terrible they were.

Falling, and ice-women, and gaps in time.

Running, and silence, and angels, and queens.

River Song killing the Doctor.

It wasn't hers, the memory, but Amelia Pond's. She had given it to her one night in the space between Time. A secret place; A very, very, dark, and scary place.

OoOoO

Clara awoke one night-day from her most recent nightmare, jolted not by the terrors of her own mind, but the rustling of rough canvas and the jostling of metal.

Afraid to open her eyes, Clara made herself look.

"Sirius?"

"Aye, lady, I've got to find my godson. Care to join me?"

Sirius had been Clara's right-side cellmate for the past eternity, and he had offered her the occasional kind word. He had feared she would go mad, Clara thought. He had been telling her of his godson, Harry. The reluctant Hero of the Wizarding World. He was very important, Sirius always said. Very important. And now, Sirius had said he was going to get him.

Clara didn't know how he had gotten free, but in her time with the Doctor, Clara had learned never to backtrack unless you had to.

Cell door clinking open, Clara asked "How are we getting off the island?"

With a grin, Sirius said "Magic."


	2. Away From Azkaban

The boat was old, and cracking, looking as though it was not long for this world. Must be held together with magic.

Stepping carefully into it, over freezing water, Clara asked "Will this take us all the way to shore?"

"Aye," said Sirius, "But it's there where we shall see the real trouble."

Clara sat down in the boat next to Sirius, and waited for it to move. Of all he had told her in their time together, the marvels of magic were Sirius' favorite tales. Self inking quills, women who could turn into cats, and so many others. Clara figured a self-propelling boat wasn't too far-fetched for this reality.

Not to disappoint, the boat did begin to move, and more smoothly than Clara had expected.

The two escapees waited silently, and uneasily for the boat to cross through the ocean, both checking the space behind their backs every other moment.

When she couldn't take the eerie quality of their journey any longer, Clara began to think aloud.

"When we get to shore, d'you think those Auror-people will be waiting for us?"

"Perhaps." Sirius responded. He wasn't too keen on finding out just what was waiting for them either, but he did have a few ideas.

"Did I ever tell you that I'm an Animagus, Clara?"

"Oh, is that how you made it out of the cell? Are you a snake or something?"

Barely suppressing a grimace, Sirius said "No, lass, I am most certainly not a snake. I'm a great, shaggy, black dog. I slipped out through the bars quite easily after all this time wasting away."

"But haven't they got precautions, or something to keep animaguses in? I thought you said they were common enough not to be secret."

"We are, lass, but to be legal, you've got to register with the ministry. I was a teenager when I became one, so I never did, and by the time I would have, the war was on already.

Anyhow, I think I could slip away unnoticed by any who might wait for us, but we've got to do something about your human-ness."

Clara snorted, and said "Dear, If I had a pound for every time I've heard that from the Doctor's mouth, I'd be rich enough to buy our way out of this mess."

Sirius turned from her just then, having heard a rustling to his left.

"The shore, it's almost upon us."

A great swell of wet land rose from out of a localized fog. Magic, again, most likely.

_I've never seen fog do that on it's own._

Reaching the far left bank, the boat shuddered to a halt, sticking in the sand.

"Looks like this is where we get off, lassie, come along."

Sirius held a hand out for her, and Clara hoisted herself up and out of their precarious vessel. Standing up, the two travelers turned to face the trees.

"Through there's our best bet, however unfortunate it might be." Sirius prompted.

"Right then, off to Neverland we go."


	3. Under the Scottish Sun

"So I take it that you've got a problem with the approaching rat, yeah?" said Clara.

"Indeed, dear, I do. You can never trust a rat enough to turn your back." replied Sirius, carefully backing away from the chittering creature.

The two had made it as far at the first few rows of trees when the mangy beast had appeared, and Clara hadn't even noticed him.

Sirius, on the other hand, had stopped his cautious slinking to look suspiciously at the thing.

"Look, dear, I don't think the rat's gonna hurt us, but just to be sure, why don't you do your dog thing and eat him?"

"Right then." said Sirius, and the rat's life was quite cut short.

"Feel better?"

"I do."

"On we go."

Now the pair traveled through the forest, getting caught in swamps, sinking just a tich into the magical quicksand traps, and getting swiped at by monstrous trees that looked a bit too much like the whomping willow for Sirius' taste. The escapees had just finished wading through some rather nasty black bile from a really feral looking sphinx-like creature when bright, yellow light began to stream through the trees.

"What d'you reckon?" asked Clara.

"Could be a trick, but I don't think they'd go to this much trouble, do you?"

"No, I don't. Want to give it a go?"

Walking through the last row of trees, Clara vision was filled with the lovely countryside of what she assumed was nineteen-ninety-three Scotland. Sirius had been counting the days. There were trees of cherry, apple and evergreen all around, and wide, open expanses of what looked to be grazing fields. Clara breathed in deeply, smelling the fresh life of a new day. Beside her, Sirius was crying silent tears.

Reaching out to hold his hand, Clara asked Sirius "Where've we come out?"

Pausing just a moment, he said "Well, love, it looks like we've made it back to the mainland."

"Lovely, then, want to go for a run?" She asked with a grin.

Wiping away tears of disbelief, Sirius could only grin back before he transformed.

And so, the lady and the tramp ran a victory lap around the Scottish countryside, rushing through the grass, climbing the tallest trees. They bathed in the river, uncaring of the cold. A first meal of apples, a honeysuckle flower for Clara's drying hair.

Finally, she had escaped, and for the first time in twelve years, Sirius Black was free.


	4. 12, Grimmauld Place

Lying upon the grass beside Sirius, Clara let the sun soak her hair.

Sitting up a bit, Clara asked "How long, d'you reckon?"

"Before they catch up? Never, if we get our way. They'll know we've gone by now, but I know of a place we can stay."

Relieved, Clara rested her head once again upon the grass.

A breath in, a breath out.

Turning her head to the side now, "Better go, then."

"Just a minute, lass. These are our last moments of freedom. All too soon we'll be on the run again."

OoOoO

When the two had their fill of sweet, summer air, they rose, and Sirius apparated them off the countryside.

Wobbling precariously on a stone step in what appeared to be London, Clara clung to Sirius' side.

"A nice landing, very roomy here," Clara quipped. "Have you got plans to keep me out here all day?" She said when he didn't look back at her.

Sirius was staring up at the big, brass number "12" above the door.

"Haven't been here for an age."

"Yeah? Since when?"

"I was sixteen when I left. This was my family home."

"I thought you were from one of those 'noble' wizard families, what're you doing in a flat in London?"

"You'll love, it lassie." Sirius smirked. "It's bigger on the inside."

And with that, Sirius pushed open the door, and the two stepped out into the grim foyer.

OoOoO

The house was dark, and cobwebs clung thickly to the wall lamps along the corridor. To the right opened the living room, and to the left, the dining room. Directly ahead was a grand staircase scaling up, and up, and up. It appeared to be made of a dark cherry, and the bannisters were wrought of cold iron.

Dust permeated the air at their stepping, and soon Clara found she could not breathe properly.

"Lovely place your parents kept, but-cough- I can't really-erm- breathe in here."

"Right, sorry." Sirius cast about with his hand, and the dust seemed to disappear.

"Better now?"

"Indeed, it is. Thanks," She said with a smile.

"So, up the stairs?"

"I think not. There are nightmares up there even Molly Weasley would shudder to contend with."

Just passing into the kitchen now, Sirius said "I'll have to see about cleaning this place up a bit, but for now, I think we'll be sleeping in the parlor."

"Then the parlor it is," replied Clara.

OoOoO

"Sirius," Clara began, "Just exactly which year is it, again?"

"'92, why?"

"Oh. I had thought it was '93. That's what the TARDIS dash had said when we crashed. Or the last number I had seen, anyway. Must have been ticking down slowly as we fell."

"Anything interesting happen in 1993 that you can remember?"

"No, Sirius, not in your reality. I think it must be a different universe altogether. Like mine, but with magic. A parallel world.

To be honest, even with all the prejudice war history you told me about, I like this one better. I always wanted to see magic, especially when I was small."

"Even with the all the silly warring?"

"Even so. Every society fights, there is never escape. At least here, you have magic." She said, looking about.

"Magic with which to clean?" Clara prompted.

Sitting down upon a dusty sofa, Sirius wondered aloud "I think that, perhaps, my old house elf may still live here.

KREACHER!" He shouted, startling Clara.

"For shit's sake, Sirius, warn a girl!"

"Sorry, love, he doesn't respond to kindness."

After a pop, and some sniffling, a small, withered creature appeared behind the sofa.

"Master Sirius, Kreacher is being here to serve you."

"Ah, Kreacher," Said Sirius, "I had wondered if you'd still be alive. Pity, isn't it?"

"If master so desired, Kreacher would cut off his head and be mounted on the wall with his family."

At that, Clara made a scrunched up sort of face in apparent disgust.

"I would love nothing more, Kreacher, believe me, but we- Clara and I, that is-" He said, nodding to her, "have got ourselves into a bit of a sticky spot. We'll be needing some help, I'm afraid."

"Kreacher lives to serve."

"And how lovely that is. Right, first, some clean sheets for Miss Clara and myself, and any food you've got. We'll be needing dinner."

And with another dusty pop, Kreacher was gone.

OoOoO

"Not very nice to him, are you?"

"He doesn't deserve it."

"He seemed a bit- ah- disturbed." Clara looked about at the spot from which he had disappeared.

"He is. But he'll be of use. We can't leave, and we can't get information from the outside world without him. I'll just have to bind his tongue with a cleverly worded vow. He is slippery, that one."

"Whatever you like, just as long as we're safe here."

Clara leaned back on the dusty sofa, and looked to the ceiling.

"If only I could talk to the Doctor. He always knows.

He knows everything," She said, looking back at Sirius now.

Sometimes I wonder how I got on without him. Before, I mean. When I lost my mother."

"I reckon you'd be surprised at what you can accomplish with nary a soul nearby to guide you." Sirius reassured her.

"Come on, dear." He said, offering her his hand. "Time for tea, and then sleep. We'll do what tomorrow. Get a message to Dumbledore, maybe."

"Alright." She said, taking the proffered hand, "Tea."


	5. They Came Bearing Freedom

"Where are we going, Sirius?" asked Clara, quite confused at the blindfold she had found covering her eyes.

She didn't see any cause for secrecy, they'd been living in this house for weeks, and it wasn't like she hadn't seen all the screaming armoires and complimentary mirrors yet.

"You'll see in a moment, lass." chuckled Sirius, as though he knew something she didn't, which he clearly did, given the excited tugging on her hand asking for her to move faster.

"Well, have it over with then, I've just about had it with these stairs." she said, just as she managed to stub her toe rather spectacularly on the second step from the top.

Chuckling again, Sirius said "Okay dear, settle yourself just- yes, there. Perfect."

Sirius sat her down on the couch in the middle of the room and said "Alright, I'm going to remove the blindfold, don't have a fit."

"Alright, alright, but this had better not be like last week's biting tea cozy, and we all know how that ended."

Removing the blindfold, Sirius shouted "Ta-da!"

Standing just before her were two identical, ginger twin boys, with ever identical mischievous grins.

"Wotcher, honey. What's doin'?" They said in stereo, the first bending down to kiss Clara's hand.

Laughing a bit, "Enchanté." said Clara. "And just who, exactly, are you?"

"Why, we're Gred and Forge!" they pronounced.

"Masters of disguise-" Gred started, "And comics extraordinaire!" finished Forge.

And then, in unison "We're the Weasley twins, at your service, milady." And they bent down, both of them this time, to kiss her hands.

Turning back to Sirius now, "Oh yes, I most definitely do like them, Sirius. So very polite." said Clara.

Taking a step closer to her, Sirius gestured toward the grinning Weasley twins, and said, "Clara, may I introduce to you Fred and George Weasley. They happen to know their way in and out of the Hogwarts castle, and have agreed to supply us with information, so long as we get Kreacher to venture down Knockturn alley to fetch a certain few things for their- ah- experimentations." He finished, with a skeptical look in their direction.

"Experimentations?" asked Clara mildly, looking back at the twins.

"Ah yes, milady," said George, "We happen to be the most prolific pranksters at Hogwarts school in many generations."

"If we do say so ourselves." said Fred.

"Right, Hogwarts. You did say we needed to get information from inside, didn't you, Sirius?" asked Clara.

"I did, indeed." he replied.

"Well, as cozy as this old, and quite rickety sofa is, might I suggest that we travel across the hall to the sitting room? I've a feeling that there's some explaining to do."

"Marvelous idea, Clara, I did have you pegged for a smart one." said Fred, smiling.

"Come milady, your chamber awaits." said George, and they both looped their arms through Clara's to goose march her across the hall.

Rolling his eyes, Sirius followed them into a comfortable sort of velveteen room.

There was a plush sofa made of green velvet, a loveseat decorated in much the same manner, and a high backed chair, also green, but upholstered in corduroy, sitting in the middle of the room. All three were facing each other, and they sat upon an ornate, oriental carpet.

There were great, heavy drapes hung over one large window on the wall opposite the door, and just past the assorted furniture. Tied with heavy tassels, they parted when the foursome walked into the room, (eliciting a "woah" from the twins), to reveal what was undoubtedly an enchanted window. It displayed a scene in an evergreen forest bathed in the low light of a summer evening.

The room was warm and welcoming, and one Sirius had lit the fireplace on the western wall, a heated glow was added to the atmosphere.

Sirius knew it was beautiful, but it still felt like prison.

"I gotta hand it to you, Clara, you sure know how to pick'em."

"Yes, well, I tend to drag books from the library in here to read- it's quite gloomy among those dusty stacks of yours, Sirius."

_And slightly full of hex traps._

"Don't look at me, I didn't do the décor." he said, with his hands held up in mock surrender.

They all took their seats- the twins on the couch, Clara on the loveseat, and Sirius in the chair- and Clara asked for their supposed information.

"Well," said the twins, "You're not gonna like it."

"Out with it, you two." said Sirius.

"Sirius, they've brought dementors." admitted Fred.

"No." said Clara, "They couldn't possibly."

_I wonder if I'll ever be free of them._

"I'm afraid they have, honey, and they don't show signs of leaving. The minister's got a serious issue with you escaping, I'd wager."

"They're there because we escaped?" asked Sirius, his voice tinged with fear.

"Right in one." said the twins. "Fudge says he can't have the deadly Sirius Black breaking in to kill the poor, innocent Harry Potter."

"Fudge?" asked Clara.

"Cornelius Fudge, Clara," said Sirius, "He's our minister for magic."

_Brilliant. There's always a political sycophant to deal with, and it always is my very least favorite part._

Clara nodded in assent, and gestured for the twins to keep on.

"He's a useless old bat, isn't he? Trying to cover his own arse over the prison break, and how's he do it? By bringing the foulest, most insidious creatures into a school for children, for Merlin's sake." said Fred, clearly disgusted.

"And another thing, Harry's got a bit of a nasty reaction to being near them." said George.

"Oh?" said Sirius.

"Yeah, he passes out every time one comes near him."

"One got near him?" Sirius asked with a quiet fear, again.

"Yeah, on the train." said Fred.

"Security collapsed a bit, and one got inside, was almost on him, when Lupin cast Expecto." said George.

"Lupin?" asked Sirius. He hadn't heard that name in what felt like a thousand years.

Grinning again, Fred said "Yeah, Dumbledore's got him on to teach Defense this year. Everyone loves him, he's brilliant, Padfoot. Wait 'till you see."

"Defense against the dark arts?" asked Clara. Seeing Sirius' nod, she continued, "I read about that quite a lot in your library, dear. Your parents certainly had a taste for the squishy and slimy. There was some right nasty stuff in this one volume- it was shut with a burning hex; I had to ask Kreacher to undo it for me.

Anyhow, I still don't see how Dumbledore could let Dementors on the castle grounds. Aren't there child safety laws or something?"

"Nay, lassie, the wizarding world is different to the one you grew up in. We don't have any laws like that, and our discrimination laws are way past due for reformation." said Sirius, thinking of Remus. "We're quite stuck in the fourteenth century, m'dear. Right down to the arranged marriages and blood sacrifices." explained Sirius.

"Ah yes, I gathered from the severed elf heads on the wall downstairs. I suppose magic changes things."

"That it does." said Sirius.

"Hey, how did you two escape, anyway? We've got "Hogwarts: a History" here, and it says you can't apparate out of the school grounds."

"We didn't apparate out of Hogwarts, we took the one eyed witch passage down into Hogsmeade. We apparated from inside Honeydukes, the sweet shop there." replied Fred.

"Ah," said Clara, "Very clever."

_Clever, but easy._

"Yeah, but Dumbledore's got eyes all over the place, and the bloke's a hundred and what- fifty?" said Fred. "It was too easy. Way too easy."

"We should have run into Snape, at least." said George. "Dumbledore wouldn't have let us away that easy if he didn't approve of our final destination. He must know, or have one of those inklings of his."

_Yes, that sounds more like it._

"Ah-Sirius" George said, turning to him now, "We left him a message. Dumbledore."

"Before we left, in front of the one-eyed witch's passage." interjected George.

"Just exactly what kind of message do you mean?" asked Sirius, this time with a suspicious glint to his eye.

"A paw print."

"A paw print?"

"A paw print."

"And did you happen to mention just who this paw print was meant to belong to?" Asked Sirius, who was starting to breathe shallowly.

"We did."

"And?"

"Well, you see, we sort of left a message along with it-" started George.

"Ahem." In unison now, "the loyalty of a dog to his best friend is never to be questioned, and the loyalty of a rat can never be given completely."

_How lovely, and poetic. I knew I liked them._

Sirius was quiet now, seemingly mulling over what the twins had just said, and considering the fact that no one had yet knocked down the door to 12 Grimmauld place.

"That's what we enchanted it to say, at the wave of Dumbledore's wand."

"Do you think he always knew?" asked Clara.

"Yeah." said Fred.

Sirius was still quiet, so Fred said "We think Hogwarts may be safe for you."

Sirius sat back in his chair now, and contemplated the fact that he might now have an ally on the light side for the first time in twelve years. Suddenly the velveteen room didn't seem so cloistering as it had only minutes before. There was freedom in the air, and Sirius could taste it.


	6. Helter Skelter

A man who thought he could take on the great Princess of the ship Lyra snuck up on her from behind, and tried to tear the clothing of Amelia Pond.

Of course, he could not win the fight he had begun, and Amelia's knife swung swiftly to its mark, just under his ribcage, and she watched as his eyes bugged out in pitiful surprise.

_How disgusting._

She nearly growled at him then, when she withdrew her dagger, but she turned her back on the disgusting man so she could see the raging battle.

The ship was full to bursting, and though she had once pictured battles on the decks of great pirate ships, this scene was not familiar. For starters, she had always been a bystander in Rory's pirate fantasies. When she pictured, in a fantasy land, what the outcome of a battle for gold and treasure would be, she always had seen herself in a garment of red, fabric flowing freely about her shoulders, and tied in at the waist with a string of pearls, and gold. At her feet would be scattered the bones, blood, and treasure, and by her side, Rory would hold a gleaming sword, coated in the victory he had won.

Amy never imagined that she would be the one to hold the sword, and now that she did hold a dagger in her hand, she suddenly understood the vengeance sought by every woman, mother, and girl scorned. For today, Amelia held a grudge in the palm of her right hand, and she intended to carry out justice as she saw fit.

Walking through the melee now, Amy slashed, and fell, and stabbed again. Here, a brisk walk full of intention and dignity was not afforded to even the most excellent of the fray.

There was blood in Amelia's red hair, and on her hands.

Dragging herself up off the wooden planks then, Amy's eyes found the swinging locks a brunette peace-disturber. Or rather, thief.

Perhaps there was once honor among thieves, but now even that has gone.

Creeping, Amy slunk along the deck-wall, and took a strong hold of kinked hair, wrenching the owner from the air, and swinging her down onto hard, wooden ground

After a scream, the treasonous woman stared Amy in the eyes, and she grit her teeth.

"What're you waiting for, dearie? Do it, if you can."

"You," she said, "were just one sentence in the drama of history." And these were the last words Madame Kovarian ever heard.

And as she bled out on the deck of a sixteenth-century ship of thieves, Kovarian saw the stars.

Suddenly, the universe looked a little bit smaller, and the victory she had won in River Song was killed. Doomed to die, right there on the pirate ship, next to her slowly beating heart.


	7. A Fissure

"Sirius!"

Running in the hallway, and skidding to a stop, Sirius was out of breath. He'd been in with Kreacher when he heard Clara's voice.

"Yes, dear?" He asked, when he had finally made it down the grey-medieval hallway.

"Sirius, did you feel that?" Clara asked, with some measure of desperation in her voice.

"Feel what?"

"That- noise. I felt it, in my chest. That awful, awful noise. It felt like it was coming from the air around me."

Slightly worried now, Sirius asked "Can you tell where it came from?"

_No. No, no, no, no, no- I can't!_

Clara shook her head, and stood up abruptly. Sirius crossed the room to stand beside her, and they both stood beside the eastward facing wall. Clara was stock still, and she looked to be waiting for some small movement, some small shiver of the air. Putting his ear to the spot Clara was staring at, Sirius listened for something inside the wall.

_There must be some strange magic here._

"I don't hear anything, Clara, I just hear passing air."

_Exactly._

"Yes," she responded, "It was just like that. Passing air, and a hard, fast noise like metal hitting wood." Clara was looking into Sirius' eyes now, "And a scream, just before the sound. A woman screaming, and then nothing. Just that sound, and then it all cut out, like a movie reel reaching its end."

The pair stood in the centre of the room now, for Clara had backed away from the wall quite quickly after recounting her tale, and Sirius had followed her.

Neither knew from whence the sound came, but Sirius, in a bid to reassure Clara, said "don't worry, love, this house is practically haunted. You probably heard a long gone duel someone had in this room."

_Wait. I know that sound._

"Do wizards usually kill people with knives?" Clara asked.

_Yes, that's precisely it._

"What do you mean?"

"That's what the sound was. A knife. I'm sure of it now."

_Positive._

"No, Clara, wizards usually don't, but my dear Auntie Bella was known for her proclivity for enchanted knives. Not to worry, I'll just go get the twins, and we'll all sit down to dinner. Aye?"

"Yeah. Aye. Dinner."

Clara stood there long after Sirius had gone, and when George came up to see if she would eat, Clara behaved as though she hadn't heard him.

The Noise still vibrated in her bones.


	8. The Wall

At dinner, Clara seemed quiet, and troubled still from her encounter with The Noise.

They were all seated around the dining table, Kreacher having cleared the room of dust, and the twins having actually cleared the room of dust, and then checking for curses.

"Clara," started Sirius, setting down his goblet, "was it just the once, or have you heard it before?"

Clara said nothing, but stared focusedly into the wall across from her.

_I wonder-_

"Clara."

Nothing.

"CLARA!" shouted the twins, making her jump.

"Oi! Rude. What are you all on about?" asked Clara, turning away from the wall.

"Have you heard it before, The Noise?" asked George.

"Oh." Said Clara. "Yeah, I have. I hadn't noticed it before, I thought they were just regular noises, or creaking floorboards. But they weren't all the same."

"How do you mean?" asked Sirius.

"I mean they were innocuous enough, at first. A door opening, the rattle of mugs in a cupboard. But then I heard the noise, and just now, before I came downstairs, I could have sworn I heard the sonic screwdriver." She said.

"Screwdriver?" asked the twins.

"It's her Doctor's weapon- well, thing- of choice. He uses it to do just about everything- open any lock, move molecules, anything."

"Well, not anything," said Clara, still staring at the wall like she might find something terribly interesting there, "It doesn't do wood."

"Really?" asked Sirius.

"Yup."

"Huh." Said the twins.

Clara directed her gaze to the wall again.

_It's that tickling at the back of my eyes, like maybe there's something I shouldn't see._

"It was so strange, Sirius. I heard the knife-on-wood sound, and then, a few minutes after George left, I heard the sonic. And a woman's voice, all from that same room upstairs. I didn't recognize the voice, if that's what you're thinking." She said, at Sirius' questioning look.

"So," began Fred, "You've heard a collection of mundane, sort of every day sounds, and then, today, you heard someone being killed, and then the sonic-"

"Screwdriver, yeah." Finished Clara.

_Killed- yes, that must be what that sound was. What else could it be, with the screaming?_

"But those are the sounds I heard on the TARDIS." She said suddenly, and to the room at large. "The silly, little sounds, and then the horrible ones, and then, always, always, the sonic. Those were my every day sounds." Turning to Sirius now, "Do you think I'm going mad?"

"Nay, lass I think you're hearing things from the other world." He said.

Clara was really starting to get used to people in this world just accepting strange happenings with a grand lack of fear. She wasn't sure if that was precisely good, or if she was developing a bad habit.

"Okay, that really doesn't make me sound not-crazy."

"Yeah, it doesn't." Said the twins.

"No, listen, she's fallen through time, yeah? Well, what's to say that the fissure isn't still open? Or that her Doctor hasn't been making holes in the fabric of reality on his way back to find her?" proposed Sirius.

The twins looked at each other, contemplating the sudden inclusion of reality-hopping in their lives, and then-

"But he can't. He can't come get me. The Doctor said he can't breach the walls between universes anymore. The last time he did it, he burned up a sun." Said Clara, looking over at the wall again.

Some days, she wondered at why the Doctor would share these pieces of himself with her, and yet still be so tight-lipped about his past.

"Well," said Fred, "it stands to reason that he might give it his best go, given that you are his 'companion' and all, right? Right? Clara?"

Clara had stopped paying attention to the boys, and she had altogether forgotten about the turkey-and-potatoes going cold on her plate. The reason for this was that she had begun to see what she thought had been strange about the opposite wall.

"Sirius," she began.

"Yes, love?"

"Do you see anything strange about the wall over there?" she said, pointing at the high, wooden panels that led into a miniature buttressing over the ceiling. It was beautiful woodwork, really, but something just wasn't right- something was humming.

_Do you see anything that shouldn't be there? Do you hear it?_

Looking now, Sirius saw that where the edges were, there weren't. They had become fuzzy, and he couldn't really look at where the seam between the opposite wall and the next should be. It was like it wasn't real, like it was fading in and out of existence.

Getting up now, Sirius, the twins, and Clara all started towards the wall, and Clara got there first.

She put her hand on the wall where it was solid, in the center of the centermost panel, and began to slide it toward the not-there seam.

_Is it real, or very-possibly real and not real at the same time?_

_I wonder-_

Sticking her hand into the space where the seam should be, Clara found thin air. Well, thin, hot air. A bit like the air inside of the TARDIS' console room, actually. She had a gut-feeling about this, really, like the ones people always had in movies. Daring to hope, Clara turned back to Sirius, and said, with terrified eyes, and steady words, "I'm gonna jump."

_Well, I always was a bit mad._

And she did.


	9. Back to the TARDIS

_In the TARDIS_

"AH!" Squeaked Clara, landing on the floor of the console room.

"You have really got to stop jumping through rifts in the fabric of reality, it's terrible for the digestion." Said the Doctor, who was standing over Clara with a monkey wrench in one hand, the sonic in his other, and a goofy grin plastered on his face.

Looking up at him from her face-plant on the floor, Clara blew a strand of hair out of her face, and said "Well, aren't you just the gentleman, leaving ladies strewn about on the floor."

"Well it wasn't me who put you there in the first place, but since I am a gentleman, I shall help you up" He teased, holding out his left hand daintily.

Clara grabbed him by the elbow, and pulled him down with her.

_That'll show him._

And that's where they found them- sat criss-cross applesauce on the floor of the TARDIS, having a slightly violent staring contest.

OoOoO

_At no.12, Grimmauld Place_

"Clara!" Yelled Sirius, just a moment too late.

Clutching at the wall where the not-there seam was, Sirius felt a hot, sort of still air, and turned around to tell the twins he was going after her.

"Fred-"

"Yes, we know," The twins interrupted.

"You're going to go after her, bring her back, and defeat any and all evil creatures that come across her path." Said George.

"That's lovely and all, and we're coming with you." Finished Fred.

"You are not coming with me, there could be space monsters or Sphinxes on the other side of the strange, blurry seam-thing." Said Sirius, pointing dramatically at said seam.

"You've been spending too much time with Clara, Sirius. You're starting to sound like her." Accused George.

"Well, yes, we were locked in Azkaban together for a while."

"We're going."

"Yeah, alright." Relented Sirius. "Figured as much."

With a squaring of his shoulders, and a deep breath, Sirius strode forward into the seam-between-dimensions. Behind him followed the twins, with matching expressions of glee on their faces.

Fred even rubbed his hands together like a scheming villain.

OoOoO

_In the TARDIS_

Sirius stumbled quite spectacularly into a brightly lit hallway that looked as if it had been decorated in about nineteen-sixty two. The walls were painted mint-green, and the chair at the end of the hallway was upholstered in bright, pastel yellow. To top it all off, a white, plastic-baubled chandelier hung from the ceiling just a foot above Sirius' head.

Suddenly, the breath was knocked out of him, and Sirius turned around, sputtering, to see the twins had run straight into him while he had been distracted, studying the floral-print borders.

He glared at the twins.

They smiled back, adjusting their hair, and brushing off imaginary dust from their sweaters.

Looking for a way out of the hallway, Sirius called "Clara!" just as he rounded the corner.

"Sirius!" exclaimed the woman in question. "You've found us, well done." she said, not taking her eyes off the man in front of her.

The room was large, and mostly made of metal. The ceiling was high, and arching, and the walls stretched up to meet it in a wide circle. At the centre of the room was a large, hexagonal, metal contraption, the likes of which Sirius had never seen before. It was covered in bits and bobs, buttons, and levers, and in the middle was a tall, glass tube.

"Do sit down, I'm just deciding exactly how best to murder the man in front of me, here, for leaving me in the middle of a _parallel universe with nobody and nothing_." She said, glaring daggers at the floppy-haired man.

Said man flinched quite hard at Clara's threat.

"Wotcher, Clara." Said the twins, taking their seat on the co-pilot's chair.

"Wotcher, Fred, George."

"So you've made some friends, I see." Said the Doctor, tugging nervously at his collar, not daring to look away from Clara's eyes.

"Yeah, I have, no thanks to you, you big jerk!" Said Clara. Standing up, Clara marched across the room to stand next to Sirius, and continued to glare at the Doctor.

The doctor stood, up, tripped over his feet trying to walk across the room to Clara, and settled on hovering next to the TARDIS console.

"I really didn't mean to, you know. It was an accident." He said.

He looked so sad, and disappointed with himself, that Clara almost let him get away with it.

"Do not puppy eyes at me, old man." She warned.

"I'm not puppy eyes-ing! I'm telling the truth, Clara. I went to find you, even," he said, more frantic now. "I made a hole in the universe, Clara! Look!" He said, gesturing madly at the wall behind him. The seam still fuzzed in and out on the wall of the TARDIS.

"Ah, speaking of that." Sirius cut in, "Should we maybe do something about closing it?"

The doctor whirled around, as though he had completely forgotten Sirius was in the room, and said "Ah, yes, of course, closing the wall now!"

A pause.

Actually no, that's a terrible idea, Sirius, why would you even suggest such a thing?" asked the Doctor, accusingly.

"Ah, well, isn't it bad that there's a rip in the fabric of space-time?"

"Yes, it is, but we can't just go around closing rifts willy-nilly! There is a pomp and circumstance to these kinds of things." Said the Doctor, frowning reproachfully at Sirius, as though he should have known that one does not go closing rifts in space-time as one pleases.

"Really." Said Clara, with a bored look.

"Yes, Clara, really." Responded the Doctor, in quite a childish manner.

First, we've got to go back." He said, with an air of finality.

"Back?" asked Clara.

"Yes, Clara. There is a very, distinctly, not-good vibration in this room, and I'll give you three guesses as to where it's coming from."

Pausing for a moment, the twins said "The rift?" Sarcastically.

"Right in one, ginger-twins! Whatever's on the other side of that rift, your world or whatever it is, is causing trouble, and I shan't leave until I've seen to it."

"Good luck with that one, mate." Scoffed George

"Yeah, you see to that." Said Sirius, crossing his arms, and hiding a grin.

"What." Said the Doctor. Whipping around to look at Clara again, he asked "Clara. What're they talking about? Why does that one look funny?" pointing to Fred, who was snickering now.

With a wry smile, Clara said "Voldemort."

"Voldemort?"

"Voldemort."

"Ah." Said the Doctor. "What is 'Voldemort'?"

"Voldemort," said Clara "is a presumed-dead megalomaniac wizard with a serious Hitler complex."

"Wizards. Yes, alright, parallel world with wizards. And Wizard Hitlers. Yes, got it.

Clara?"

"Yes?"

"I need you to tell me everything you know about this world." Said the Doctor, and he was just now beginning to get that dangerous gleam in his eyes that Clara had come to know would certainly mean trouble.


	10. And in the Beginning

"Clara. Honey bear. Love."

"I will tear your tongue from your mouth."

They weren't getting along very well, the Doctor and Clara, not after she discovered that he'd left her to waste away in Azkaban prison when he could have gotten to her sooner if he'd only _tried_.

Well. It wasn't exactly true, but it certainly felt that way. She knew, rationally that he really did do his best, and she did know also that he wouldn't have left her there a minute longer than he had to.

Turning to face the Doctor properly, Clara said "I'm going to give you the run-down, yeah?"

The Doctor relaxed visibly, and wisely kept his mouth shut quite firmly, waiting for Clara to begin.

Sirius and the boys had gone off to the kitchen, with guidance from the TARDIS. They'd asked if they could help, but Clara said they could fill in on the gritty details of magic later, and she would step through the warped time with the Doctor first. He always got a better grasp on things if he could feel the time-slip properly, and she wasn't about to deny him that.

"Alright. I landed in that muck-up of a prison a few months back, just after I slipped from the doors of the TARDIS when we were going 'round that star, remember? I caught sight of the years ticking backward on the console, and the last number I saw was '93, so I figured I'd land near enough."

The Doctor was looking through Clara now, knowing how she must have felt, crashing into nineteen-ninety-three like that. '93 had not been a good year for Clara, not at all.

"I meant to ask if it was really '93 when I got down there, but I landed in Azkaban, not on some bloody street corner like I always seem to do. Like we always seem to do."

Clara shook her head, and held back the anger bubbling breath the surface. She never did like to talk of her mother's death, but some things just can't be helped. She had only wanted to land in another year, any other one. Please, she had hoped- just not her dying year. She knew the temptation to see her mother would be overwhelming, and that it would only hurt worse when she had to leave her again, but just as lucky as she always was, Clara hadn't had to worry about that. There hadn't ben any room for mother under the cold, dark, pressing, walls, choking, drowning, ending- there hadn't been any room for mother there.

"As soon as I touched down I knew something was horribly wrong. I could feel the life being drawn straight out of me, like iron filings to a magnet. It was unstoppable. I nearly went mad in that place, and I would have without Sirius. I think I would have anyway, if we'd stayed there any longer. It's guarded, you see. By these- things. Dementors."

Shaking off the memory, Clara continued. "I can't really tell you what happened during those months in Azkaban because I can't really remember them. It isn't important, anyway.

Once we got out, Sirius took us home. To his old house, out in the city. He's got a massive manor house sat straight in the middle of this row of flats, and his family's lived there for ages and ages. He figured we were safe there, away from anyone who could find out where we were, and he was right. We had been safe so far, from outsiders anyway. That is, until you came barging through with your fuzzy walls and complete lack of respect for other people's perfectly good cedar paneling."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I've got just exactly the amount of respect for cedar as one should, and I'd also like to remind you that your life was at stake!" said the Doctor, flailing slightly. He did tend to do that, after all.

Amused, Clara kept on. "Of course, Sirius told me all he could of this world." Losing her smile now, Clara said "Doctor, this place is in danger. This timeline is fraught with disaster and war. It never ends. Here, war is a priceless heirloom passed from mother to daughter, father to son until somebody wins. People here are different; they don't give up. They don't run out of missiles. It never ends."

The Doctor was looking at Clara with something old in his eyes, the way he did when she told him the truth. Clara was looking back with a kind of desperation, begging him to stay, please this time stay, don't say it's fixed, don't say you have to leave them to fend for themselves because they can't, they just can't.

Clara figured she must have said that last part out loud, because the Doctor said "I won't leave them, Clara. I promise I won't."

Shaking slightly, Clara took the Doctor's hand. "I can tell you of the legends. I can tell you of the Boy who lived and of the mad king Voldemort, and I can tell you of James and Lily Potter, and it will sound like a gruesome fairytale. The people here are-" she paused, looking for the word- "more. The people here burn brighter, and when their children speak, the whole world listens. What do you do with people like that, people who are awake?"

"Clara," said the Doctor, "we live with them. We let their fire burn in us, and we ride the wave of war until all the enemy flames are all put out. Haven't you learned anything from the disaster we've seen?" he asked, a distant, lonely look on his face. "We travel the stars to rescue burning monuments, to save dying children, and to watch constellations go supernova over the oceans on Persephone Four. This is what life if for us. This ending of reigns, and this burning of the earth. This is what we're here for."

Clara's eyes changed then, from water to steel. "The queen of the Pleiades Circle told me that she'd never seen stars burn so brightly for so long. I did suspect that she hadn't been talking about her blue stars." And then, with a small smile, "I suppose we have to stay. I suppose that we have to fight, and I'll do it, just the same as we always do, but remember, Doctor- It's different this time. I lived here, in this world. Please take care not to destroy it."


	11. Beyond the Doors of a TARDIS

They were sat in a circle on the TARDIS when it happened.

The walls shook, and the console burned hot, startling the inhabitants out of their pow-wow formation.

"Honestly!" said the Doctor, looking irate and not at all surprised. He began to point the sonic at things, and the twins just seemed delighted with the new turn of events, not at all upset for having been interrupted in their telling of just exactly how one makes a bat-bogey hex work.

_That was the slashing of a knife, it was it was it was I know it was I can hear her voice-_

When Sexy started making rattling noises, Clara was startled from her distraction. She knew Sexy had something to say that was certainly going to be heard, whether the Doctor liked it or not. Clara would to ignore the feeling that something was very, very wrong, and she would ignore it well.

"Dear," said Clara, "I do think that she's trying to say something."

"Oh, well, Clara I'm so glad you said so, because I'm absolutely sure that I wouldn't have figured that out on my own!"

"Honestly, I don't know why you fight her on it so terribly." said Clara, at a Doctor who had started shoving metal panels, swearing at shiny knobs, and generally yelling at the ceiling.

Rolling his eyes a bit, Sirius leaned in toward Clara and asked "is he this way- ah- always? Flailing, I mean. And loud."

Laughing, Clara responded "Yes, he is. However unfortunately, we're stuck with him like this until he next regenerates."

"Regenerates? What? Time- thingies can do that?" asked George, who'd been rattling on the grated floor to confuse the poor Doctor further.

"Yes!" yelled the Doctor, from the other side of the console room, causing all heads to turn in his direction. "I've found it, the blasted thing!"

Holding up a beaten-up, old, tablet-like thing, the Doctor was grinning triumphantly.

_A triumphant hiss, a woman's sound of victory-_

"I've been looking for this for ages, I've been without it since we, well, since you crashed on Azkaban Prison."

Clara startled again, but recovered in record time.

At the confused looks he was getting from the wizards in the room, the doctor elaborated. "It's my outside monitor. It sees what we cannot, while we're on the inside. Hence the name. Anyhow, I'd like to see what's going on out there, if you don't mind."

The monitor flicked to life at the buzz of the sonic, and the pow-wow circle reformed around it.

On the display was the murky outline of a watery shore. Cold, black ripples met dark, lush grass that had grown over, obviously magically kept lush, and definitely not looked after by anything human. Trees grew at the eastern edge of the lake, and Clara would have sworn she had seen something silver flickering between the leaves. Beyond the lake, on the southern side, rose the hazy silhouette of a grand castle, backlit by the full moon.

"Hogwarts." breathed Sirius.

"Home." said the twins.

An air of calm had come over the room when Clara turned to look at the Doctor, and said "I guess we know what Sexy was on about. We've fallen straight into it. Again."

_Always this way, always tired before we begin. I wonder if I'll ever get three minutes to myself around this man._

It was testament to how enraptured Sirius was by the image on the screen that he didn't bother asking who Sexy was.

"Well then." said the Doctor, looking about at the others. "I am now quite sure, really quite sure that we are not in Kansas anymore."

OoOoO

"As soon as we step out that door they'll know we're here. We'll have to put something in motion, and quickly." said Sirius.

"Oh, I like this one, Clara, really thinks on his feet."

"Shut it, you." she said, winking at him.

"Really you two, we need a plan." said Sirius, again.

"No, we don't." said both Clara and The Doctor, in unison, as they ran for the door.

"Hey, I thought it was just us who could do that." called Fred, rushing forward to follow them.

"Fucking merlin's pants." said Sirius, as he ran with them, throwing up a cloaking spell with a stolen wand.

OoOoO

Soft footfalls on the grass, rushing, rushing as the five of them began a mad dash across the castle grounds.

Clara hadn't expected it to be so quiet when she had burst out the TARDIS doors with the Doctor in tow, but now she could hear every insect, and the rustling of the leaves in the trees, and the swooshing sounds her shoes made in the grass. All those sounds were set under the quiet- the loud, obnoxious quiet that had Clara's nerves racing and the blood pounding in her ears. Just the way she liked it.

Someone could catch them at any moment.

She daren't speak. What if they heard?

Then she remembered that she'd heard Sirius throwing up a spell as he'd darted out the doors.

Thank god, she thought. Sirius, always prepared in the face of danger. Who would have thought it of him?

They were almost to the outer edges of the grounds proper when the Doctor slowed his approach, and the others followed suit.

_So much running, always running, and was that a howl she heard?_

Mostly slinking now, they were all on their guard, checking this way and that for a stray student, a stray someone.

And that's when Clara felt it. The Dementors. The crushing weight.

How could she have forgotten the pain? How could she have forgotten the empty hollowness inside? Distantly, she heard Sirius' strangled yell of anguish. She wished she could go to him, but she could not.

Clara was drowning, falling, and she couldn't see anything but the pale, pale moon and the darkness descending upon her.


	12. Upon Arrival, Remove Your Shoes

Clara wen't down hard, and so did Sirius. The Dementors had been too much for them to bear.

_Please Doctor please Doctor Please._

The Doctor was nearly overcome when the dementors had attacked, but he pressed on toward the school. Somewhere in his terror-addled mind he thought that if he could get to the castle in time, he could get someone to call off the dementors. He'd have to tell them the whole fantastic story of how they got there in the first place with a wanted fugitive and a blue box so they would believe him and actually do the calling-off, but that was to worry about when he got there. Hypothetically.

The Twins remained largely unaffected, having been used to their presence all year, and cast Expecto in unison. Suddenly, twin foxes came rushing out of their wands, and into the swarm.

OoOoO

Hermione Granger was sneaking back up the staircase to the seventh floor, long past curfew, when she saw something glimmer outside the castle window. When she looked, she saw that two silver foxes, two very familiar foxes, were rushing through a swarm of Dementors on the outer grounds. Her heart pounding, she turned right around, all pretense of sneaking lost, and made a mad dash for the third floor.

Hermione ran down the stairs to the third floor and positively bolted down the corridor, nearly crashing into a suit of armor as she went. As she slowed to a stop in front of the Gargoyle, she realized that she didn't know the password to the Headmaster's office and began to yell. "Professor! Headmaster! Professor Dumbledore I know you can hear me and I've just seen the Twin's patronuses clearing out a swarm on the grounds! You MUST come down, you absolutely must!"

At a throat-clearing from behind her, Hermione jumped and turned around. Standing straight in front of her was Professor Mcgonagall.

"Miss Granger, what earthly cause do you have to be yelling at the Headmaster at such a late hour?"

Completely out of breath and in a rush, Hermione said "The twins are outside on the grou—" and that was all she could get out before Mcgonagall had turned swiftly around and headed for the first floor.

On the grounds, Hermione and Mcgonagall, who appeared to be suspiciously not-out-of-breath, stopped twenty paces from the intruders with wands drawn.

What they saw, however, did not look like intruders, but rather a motley crue of strangers dying on the ground. The twin's patronuses were still struggling to rid the place of dementors, so Mcgonagall cast Expecto Patronum, and her slinking felines shooed away the descending cloud of dementors.

Coughing and returning to life, the Doctor jumped up, glanced over at Clara, and looked at Mgconagall and Hermione, inspecting them.

One might have expected that he would have introduced himself to Mcgonagall, but instead, turned to the little girl with wild hair and wonder and excitement shining in her eyes and said "Hello, I'm the Doctor." As though nothing had happened, nothing at all.

She shook his extended hand and said "I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger."

Mcgonagall looked as though she were about to say something, but then Sirius Black had just stood up in front of her, clutching a small, wide-eyed brunette, effectively making her lose her train of thought.

Having seen the severe witch's face, Clara quickly introduced herself as "Hi, Clara Oswald. Most definitely not breaking and entering into your- ah- castle." She finished lamely.

_Lovely girl, he always has got such an eye for the clever ones. She looks as though she's got the whole world behind those eyes._

Mcgonagall looked straight past her to Sirius and said "Sirius Orion Black you had better have a very good reason for showing your face on Hogwarts grounds when it is plastered all over every wanted poster in the village next door!"

"I can explain, Mcgonagall we were escaping—"

"Oh yes, that much was very clear."

"—and I met Clara the Doctor but that's not important." Said Sirius, still holding his arm where Clara'd had a death grip on it. "We think that the castle's in danger, that Voldemort will return."

The Twins nodded along, looking only slightly downcast about their failed patronuses.

Mcgonagall paused a moment, pursing her lips, and then said "first things first, Black. Inside."

"So you believe us, then?"

"What I believe, Mr. Black, is not the issue. That issue is that we are standing in the middle of the Hogwarts grounds with fugitives, Doctors, and strangers and Albus Dumbledore is not particularly known for letting his students come across danger at this school."

Mcgonagall then turned to Hermione and said "The password's Fizzing Whizzbee." And Hermione took off like a speeding bullet.

OoOoO

Mcgonagall quickly took in the sight of the five of them and turned to Sirius again, "Get them under a cloaking spell, now."

Sirius figured that the one they had been under had disappeared when the Dementors had come, and threw another one over them all. If he added something else as well, nobody would have to know it.

Walking briskly toward the castle, Mcgonagall spoke quietly, indicating Clara and the Doctor. "Can any of the rest of you do magic?" When she asked it, she ignored the twins quite pointedly.

Clara said "Yes, I can. Not much, though. I'm not from around here."

_From another bloody dimension, I am. I'll be lucky if I can manage to make a feather float._

"Good. And you, Doctor?"

"No, but I've got this!" He said, brandishing the sonic.

"Brilliant." Said Mcgonagall with a long-suffering sigh, the type one might hear only from the mouths of mothers and teachers.

Just as they got to the front doors, Sirius heard a familiar howl, and turned his head in surprise. He looked to Mcgonagall, searching her face. It was a full moon tonight.

Pausing, Mcgonagall answered the question on his mind. "He's here. As a teacher. Defense."

Though her response was stilted, Sirius was flooded with joy and only just barely overcame the urge to shift and run into the forest to find his best a glance backward, he followed the others through the doors.

The five rushed through the corridors, twisting, turning, and taking the stairs as quietly as one could on moving staircases. Clara looked overhead as they went, at the pantings and flying buttresses, and the twins began to quietly explain who the subjects were. Eventually, they got carried away and began to tell her stories like "There's where we got Filch with a dungbomb our second year!" A a stern look from Mcgonagall, however, and they became very quiet. They knew she'd be having words with them later, and not just for being unnecessarily loud in the corridors.

Marveling at the silence and cloaking charms Sirius had placed over them, Clara was intensely relieved when they made it to the seventh floor unheard. When they stopped at the junction between one corridor and the next, Hermione and an old man in a blue robe stood waiting for them.

"Hello Sirius." Said Dumbledore quietly.

"Albus. This is Clara, and The Doctor."

"Not to be rude, Headmaster, but why are we standing in the middle of a hallway?" asked Hermione, in a hushed voice.

"Ah! yes, my dear, one moment, and I shall tell you." said Dumbledore. "Professor Mcgonagall, you have not been followed?"

"We have not. The walls might have ears, Albus, but they speak only to you."

"Excellent. Now-" He said, moving to stand in front of the great tapestry on the wall behind them, he gestured to it and said "Miss Granger, we are not standing in the middle of a hallway, but rather in front of this tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy." With that, he began to pace one, two, three times in front of the tapestry, and the wall began to change.

"Wicked." Said the twins, as the wall became a door.

It was a high, arched thing, with double doors and intricate carvings along the face and edges. The outside of it was pristine, looking for all the world as though it had been carved and stained yesterday. The inside, however, was not. From the inside of the room, the wood was old and appeared to be scarred in places where people had burned it or perhaps thrown a hex the wrong way. Incidentally, the doors seemed not to match the rest of the room, which was very cushy-looking, filled with sofas and high-hung paintings with gold frames. Clara filed that tidbit away to examine later. As the doors shut behind them, Dumbledore led them inside.

They each took a seat on one of the cushy, overstuffed sofas that filled the room, and Dumbledore began.

"First things first. Who are you, and why have you come?"

The Doctor decided to take point on that one, and said "We're time-travelers from another dimension, and we have come to set right what is wrong."

_Oh, he's brilliant, isn't he. Just put it all out there, Doctor, I'm sure they won't be inclined to lock us up in the bloody dungeon._

"That would make you space-travelers as well, wouldn't it?" Asked Dumbledore, unfazed.

_Well then. I suppose that things are different here._

Taken only slightly aback by the fact that Dumbledore hadn't spluttered or gasped, the Doctor said "Yes, It would."

"We've heard a whispering." Said Clara, from beside Sirius. "We heard something from the other side, from our dimension." _How strange that feels to say._ "Voices coming through, begging for help, screaming. Ordinarily, that's when we pull up our bootstraps and head out the door, so we came to see from whence the whispers came. That's why we're here."

"So you've come to help?" asked Mcgonagall. "You've come to help with what? You've arrived with a notorious fugitive, two of our own students, and a man with no magic who can see the castle. Forgive me if I've made assumptions, but that's not exactly the sort of thing that explains itself!"

"I'd like to remind you that I happen to be innocent, _Minerva_."

"Tosh."

Sirius and Clara looked at each other, and then at the Doctor, at a loss for words. How does one explain, exactly, what they meant when they said they'd come to save the world? 'Oh, there's this tear in the fabric of reality that we sometimes camp out next to, listening for end times, no big deal.'

"They're here to help Harry." said George.

"They heard that he's in danger, through this crack in time. They heard that our world was in danger and that it had something to do with Harry Potter and the Dark Lord returning." Said Fred.

_Well then, that does that._

"That must have been why I landed in Azkaban with Sirius." Said Clara, in a moment of sudden realization.

"Excuse me?" Said Dumbledore.

"I landed in the cell next to his. That's how I met him. I crash landed first, months ahead of the Doctor, and the cell next to Sirius' was empty, so thats where the TARDIS spit me out. She must have known where I'd need to be, who I'd need to meet."

"Oh, clever girl!" Said the Doctor.

"What exactly is a TARDIS?" Asked Hermione, speaking up for the first time.

"Time and Relative Dimension in Space." Said the Doctor, to his new, favorite child. She truly was full of wonder and the Doctor never left that behind.

"Oh, of course. You travel in time and space, but you do it in a machine." She reasoned. "But why is it relative dimension? Surely it should just be 'dimension,' shouldn't it?

While the Doctor went on to explain relative dimension to Hermione, Dumbledore asked Clara what had been weighing on his mind since Hermione had come bursting into his office and told him that Sirius Black was on the grounds outside with a man called 'the Doctor.'

"Can you help us, Clara? Can you truly help us?"

"I don't know." She said, with wide eyes. She was searching for the truth. "I don't know what this world is like, but the Doctor and I- we've saved so many. It's our job, it's what we do. The Doctor and his companion, we travel the universe together, saving worlds. I have to believe we can do for you what we have always done."

"The Doctor and his companion?" Asked Fred.

"You make it sound as though there were others." Said George.

From the other side of the room, the Doctor said "There were."

Looking at Dumbledore, he said "I am old, Professor. Very old. Older even than you, and I have watched the stars burn and new worlds come into life, and I will see your world saved."

A sort of quiet had come over the room, the one Clara knew to be the calm before the battle. There was always a moment of realization for the people they fought with, the ones who were not used to this kind of life.

With this, Dumbledore nodded, and said "Of course. How silly of me it was not to believe, when I have heard such things about you."

"So they know me in this world?"

"They do." Said Dumbledore, much to the general confusion of the others in the room.

"You've been here before?" Asked Clara.

"Not before, after. Or rather, not yet. Perhaps it was another me." Said the Doctor.

"It may have been by another face, but this world knew you once, when it was young. Tales of 'the Doctor,' were told a long time ago; it is only by my inquisitive nature that I know of them. They are lost, forgotten things." Said Dumbledore.

"I suppose they would be." Said the Doctor, contemplatively. He looked tired suddenly, and worn.

"Albus." Said Mcgonagall. "They must stay here if they are to join us." The twins nodded their assent, and Sirius just looked confused.

"Ah yes, they shall. It is no longer the beginning of the year, so we can't introduce them as teachers, but they could be de-aged, I suppose. We could sort them late, say they are from Beaubaxtons Academy?" Said Dumbledore, to the room at large.

"De-aging?" Sirius asked, warily.

"No." Said Hermione.

"No?" Asked Dumbledore.

"We'll introduce them as teachers, and they'll teach Astronomy to seventh years and Muggle Studies to fifth years, respectively." Said Hermione.

"The time-turner." Said Mcgonagall, understanding.

_They'll take us back to the year's start, take us back to before we ever came here._

"I know it isn't strictly allowed, per-se, but these are extraordinary times and they do seem to be calling for extraordinary measures. It's the only way to keep them here in the castle without arousing suspicion." Said Hermione, turning to the Headmaster. "Nobody transfers to Hogwarts mid-year. The beginning of the year, maybe, but it would be too strange, somebody would pick up on it, and I would hate for that somebody to be Malfoy."

"Miss Granger, I know you and your friends don't see eye to eye with Mr. Malfoy, but that is no reason to believe that he has mal intent toward this school." Said Dumbledore.

"I know, sir, but he's sharp, and he would know something was off. He or one of his cronies would tell his father, and then where would we be?" She pointed out, staring him down.

"Excuse me, but what exactly is a time-turner, and if you are all planning what I think you're planning, why couldn't we use the literal time machine parked on your south lawn?" Asked Clara.

"Because," said Hermione, sounding only slightly like it should be obvious, "we can't use your time-travel here. All magic leaves a signature, and my bet is that your machine leaves one too."

The Doctor seemed pleased with Hermione's cleverness, and said "It does. Tachyons. Void stuffs. It's crawling with invisible things. We'll leave her in the forest, I'll go re-park." He said, making to leave, when Dumbledore stopped him.

"You mustn't leave this room, Doctor. You could be seen."

"Oh yes, I suppose that would interrupt out plan for secrecy, wouldn't it." Said the Doctor, sitting back down.

"Then it's settled. We turn back time." Said Mcgonagall.

"Yes," said Sirius. "We turn back time."


	13. Venus in Retrograde

"Amy, are you sure?"

"Yes, Rory, of course I am. It's over and done with, the universe collapses no more, and I can see time shifting here, on this plane. Look." She said, pointing at the screen.

Amy and Rory were sat down in a little tea shop in a sedate part of Morocco drinking peppermint tea from small, ceramic cups. The walls were draped in tapestries and lengths of beautiful, glittery fabrics, and candles as well as wall sconces cast bright, yellow light over the tea room. The two of the were looking quite intently at a thin, tablet computer screen while a thick, leather adornment on Amy's left wrist buzzed faintly.

"Okay. Alright, i guess we have to have a go at this. Really have a go, I mean." Said Rory, looking at the tablet with an expression of disbelief, like he wasn't quite sure he believed what he said. "We can absolutely do this."

"That's the spirit." Said Amy, with a cheeky sort of smile in his direction. "Now, from what I can see, Jack's vortex manipulator is picking up a disturbance around the fifty-seventh parallel, see?" She said, gesturing to the display on the tablet again. "But, there's something strange here," she said, pointing to the fuzziness on the display, and then to a blue light flashing on her vortex manipulator. "It's in another dimension. A parallel one."

"So its Scotland, then, but it isn't our Scotland." Said Rory, understanding.

"Right in one, my dear." Said Amy, prodding Rory on the nose for emphasis. "And, if you look at this, you can sort of tell where to go."

"Sort of?" Asked Rory skeptically.

Amy only grinned.

OoOoO

Clara Oswald woke up to bright, yellow light filtering through her high-tower window on the morning of September the first, nineteen-ninety three. She remembered the events of the night before, or after, or what have you, slowly, but clearly.

Across the way, and seven floors down, Sirius Black did the same.

OoOoO

"So we're obviously going to have to change your face, Mister Black." Said Hermione from her position beside the headmaster's desk. They had all gathered in Dumbledore's office to carry out their plan to send Clara, the Doctor, and Sirius back to September first.

"My face?" Said Sirius, indignantly.

"Come now, dear, you'd be recognized instantly." Said Clara, reasonably, with a gentle grasp on Sirius' arm.

"Yes, I suppose, but what is to be done with the rest of you?" He asked, gesturing to Dumbledore, McGonagall, the twins and Hermione. "You'll need to come back too, so you remember us."

"I'm afraid, mister Black, that we cannot come with you." Said Dumbledore calmly, as was ever his way.

"If we were to go back, there would be doubles of Miss Granger, the Headmaster, Messrs Weasley and myself." Explained McGonagall.

"Precisely." Said Dumbledore, nodding his head in her direction. Then, addressing the room, he said, "There is a way, however, to keep the memories alive, so to speak." Calling over the pensieve, Dumbledore explained its function. "Tonight, we will all extract our memories of the past few hours, and place them into phials. Clara will keep them with her when you all go back, and upon arrival in the past, she will present them to my past self, and all will be set right. For the time being, anyhow."

"But how will you know they are real?" Asked the Doctor. "How do we get you to trust us?"

"With words, dear Doctor. 'Ariana says hello.' That should do the trick," He said, with his finger alongside his nose.

"Ariana says hello?" Asked Fred.

"A story for another time, dear Mister Weasley."

"Alright," said McGonagall, to Sirius. "Let's change your face, shall we?"

Turning on Sirius now, she raised her wand, and cast a glamour that rippled over his face in shiny waves before it settled and faded.

"Did it work?" Asked Sirius.

"Why does he look the same?" Asked Clara.

"He won't look any different to any of us, but to others who look upon him, he will appear to be slightly different, just shifted enough to be unrecognizable as Sirius Black."

"Seamless work, Minerva, as always." Said Dumbledore, with a twinkle in his eye.

"Why, thank you." She said, with a small smile.

Dumbledore drew a set of phials from within his robe and set them on a small rounded table he had conjured to hold them.

"You will place your memories in these, Miss Granger, Messrs Weasley. Please do the same, Minerva."

The five of them drew breaths, and raised their wands to their temples and drew them forward, looking for the world like a confederation of specters when from their minds came glowing strands of silver light, reflecting moonbeams across their eyes. They repeated the motion a few times until they had dropped all their memories into their respective crystal phials, and once they were stoppered, Dumbledore set them back into the velvet bag from which they had been extracted.

The man in question handed the bag to Clara, and she took it with shaking hands.

_I'm holding bits and pieces of people's minds in my hands._

Handing the time-turner to Clara now, Hermione said, "Don't worry that it squeezes a little. It's quite normal, I assure you. But do make sure that you mean what you think. It can be dangerous, otherwise."

Then, To Clara, Sirius, and The Doctor, McGonagall advised, "Do be careful that you turn it three times, and with intention. Thank quite hard on the place you want to go, and go there you shall."

Taking it from her, Clara looped its long, golden chain around her neck, and then the boys' necks. With a last look at the room around her, she turned the dial, once, twice, and then three times. The room began to fuzz in and out around her, as she and the boys watched the last few months go by in a blur, all around them as though they weren't really there. People came and went, light glowed and faded, everything was moving so fast, and then, all of a sudden, it stopped.

The room was dark, and Clara blinked as her eyes adjusted to the blue glow of the moonlight suffused through the room. The spindly, silver instruments that decorated the Headmaster's surface were in their places, and were whirring comfortingly in the silence.

"Clara?" Asked the Doctor.

"Yes?"

"Are we clear?"

"Yes, I think so." She said.

Unlooping himself from the time-turner's chain, Sirius drew his wand and looked around Dumbledore's study.

"Yes, we're clear. He must be out. What time do you think it is? Do you think we've got here on the right day, lass?"

"Yes, I can feel it, I think. And quite late, too."

The Doctor unlooped himself as well, leaving Clara with the time turner, and went to the window to inspect the grounds below.

"I think we had better have a look around the castle, don't you?" Asked the Doctor, with a slight grin.

OoOoO

The trio made it all the way down the staircase and out into the corridor before they heard footsteps.

"Quick, quickly, around the corner if you please!" hissed Clara, hastening to hide from the people approaching.

Crouched up behind a suit of armor that most certainly did not cover the three of them, Sirius, the Doctor, and Clara waited until the voices passed them.

"No, Severus, we can't be sure of that. We were there that day, and we know what happened. If Sirius Black is truly after Harry Potter, we can't know for certain that he means him harm."

"You may operate under any misconceptions you like, Minerva, but I will not delude myself into thinking that we ought not worry."

"Don't let your past cloud your judgements, Severus. It can make you ever so blind."

Hearing Mcgonagall's voice was reassuring, but they couldn't breach their hiding place just yet. Not with other people hanging about.

Sirius looked at Clara, and she shook her head.

_No. Not yet. We wait for Dumbledore._

Seeming to understand, he kept his seat.

When the voices passed, they continued along the hall, and crept all the way down the (moving!) staircases to the first floor and into the Great Hall.

_I forgot that they moved and shifted, how strange._

"Wow." Said Clara, looking up at the enchanted ceiling. "This place is even more beautiful than I had imagined it to be." Looking over at Sirius, she said, "When I was younger, I never thought that the ceiling of the Great Hall would actually be so high. It's like we're actually standing in a cave that opens up to the night sky."

"I thought so too, the first time I saw it at night."

"What do we do?" Asked Clara, after a moment.

"We wait." Said the Doctor.

"Wait?" Asked Sirius.

"Yes, I have a feeling that we won't remain here long without our beloved headmaster noticing. I did read the books you know," he said, gesturing to the room at large. "The walls have ears around here. Nothing goes on without him knowing. Supposedly, anyways."

"Right then, shall we sit?" Asked Clara.

"We shall."

"Ahem." Said a voice from the doorway.

"Ah!" Said Clara, who jumped only a little. After settling a bit, "Headmaster, you startled us." She said with a grin.

"You know me, then?"

"Ariana says hello."

"I see. Come with me."

OoOoO

Once they were back in Dumbledore's study, he offered the three of them tea and biscuits, conjured three slightly overstuffed armchairs, and sat down behind his desk before he said anything more at all.

"I take it that you're here with some purpose?"

The Doctor was the first to respond. Standing up, he said, "You sent us back in time, we've come only from a few months from now, and you sent us back in this very room. We've come by way of time turner, as much as it pains me to say so, and we're here to save the world, in short."

Bouncing on the balls of his feet, the Doctor turned to Clara, as though asking her to explain the finer details.

_Ever so impatient, you are._

Pulling the time-turner from around her neck, Clara offered it up as proof, but Dumbledore declined to hold it. Tucking it back down her shirt, Clara said, "This Time-turner belongs to Hermione Granger." At that, Dumbledore let some surprise show on his face.

"Go on." He said.

"We landed here a few months in the future with a mission in mind, so you and Minerva McGonagall sent us back with your memories of the night you found us, and instructions to be put on staff as Hogwarts teachers. You gave me a passcode and instructions. And I've already given you the passcode." Clara then pulled out the velvet bag that contained the phials of memory within it, and set it on the table. Pulling one out, she said "You're going to need to wake Hermione Granger, Professor McGonagall, and Messrs Fred and George Weasley."


End file.
